Comments from a conservative-bordering-on-libertarian living in the great State of Maryland

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Hamas & Israel; Israel to blame

Some violent happenings going on in the MidEast and you know things are not going well for certain factions of the Palestinians when the international whine of “excessive force” rises above the din of Hamas’s rockets red glaring.

Not wanting Ban Ki-moon to have all the fun of Israeli bashing, the President of the EU jumped in:

“In a strongly worded statement, the president of the European Union, Slovenia, singled out for condemnation "the recent disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) against the Palestinian population in Gaza." The statement described Israel's policy in Gaza as "collective punishment."

(Of course, the EU President also“…reiterates condemnation of continued firing of rockets into Israeli territory and calls for its immediate end.”…but I guess that didn’t fit the theme of Griff Witte’s report)

I have yet to read what would qualify as a “proportionate” or “non-excessive” response. I’m guessing the problem here is that Hamas is fairly incompetent in their hurling of rockets at Israel. (Does anyone want to claim that Hamas is NOT trying to inflict as much damage and carnage as possible?) That they have been unsuccessful does not impose an obligation on Israel to tone it down.

Side Note: The resolve and strength now being mouthed by PM Olmert’s are of the kind many of us wished he had expressed and acted on in dealing with the (still) kidnapped Cpl. Schalit.